What went wrong...my first bad batch??

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fishingprogonehomebrewer

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This wasnt my fist batch just my first bad one. I made a strawberry wit beer I came up with on Beersmith. It was an extraxt with steeping grains. Left it in the primary for 3 weeks then into a secandary with 5 lbs fresh berrys, let it sit for 2 weeks and just rack to a third carboy. I wanted to test the gravity again cuz it seemed like it was fermenting again after the strawberry was added. My OG was 1.072 and in to secandry at 1.012. I tasted it before another reading and it tastes like WINE? Its not bad, but does not tast like beer. What did I do wrong? Needless to say I drank all my test to see what the FG is. Will this condition down or just get worse?
 
This wasnt my fist batch just my first bad one. I made a strawberry wit beer I came up with on Beersmith. It was an extraxt with steeping grains. Left it in the primary for 3 weeks then into a secandary with 5 lbs fresh berrys, let it sit for 2 weeks and just rack to a third carboy. I wanted to test the gravity again cuz it seemed like it was fermenting again after the strawberry was added. My OG was 1.072 and in to secandry at 1.012. I tasted it before another reading and it tastes like WINE? Its not bad, but does not tast like beer. What did I do wrong? Needless to say I drank all my test to see what the FG is. Will this condition down or just get worse?

Could be that the strawberries introduced something wild, or it could be the strawberries. I haven't used fresh berries, yet 5# seems like A LOT! Is that what the recipe called for?
 
Doesn't sound bad. Might be the 5# of strawberries overwehlmed your grains a bit. I usually shoot for less than one third fruit per grains. Let it condition, I bet it is gonna be pretty good.
What wrong wid da beer we got?
 
I didnt think 5lbs was a lot. I have seen other recipes call for that and some even more. To put into Perspective 5 lbs of strawberrys...its a 1 gallon zip lock bag full.
 
5 lbs should not be excessive for a mild fruit like strawberries. Since these were fresh did you parboil/pasteurize them in some way? Maybe you just need to let it condition/carbonate like was mentioned.

Edit: just realized, that is a pretty high gravity wit. Is some of what you are tasting possibly the alcohol burn?
 
I made a strawberry blonde/Kölsch (the line was a little blurred) with 10# of strawberries. It still tasted like beer but it was toying with the wine line. I back sweetened mine with lactose. Are you sure you aren't tasting the tartness of the strawberry after all its sugar has been fermented away?
 
Too many simple sugars of any sort can give a wine like taste. Did you have any other simple sugars boosting that OG?
 
What hops did you use? What was your hops schedule? I've brewed many fruit beers and found that below 25 IBUs they taste more like wine coolers then beer.
 
I did not parboil/pasteurize them. My IBUs were under 25. I used .5oz amarillo 60min, .5 saaz 20min, and .5 saaz at flame out.
Thanks for the replys. Im looking forward to see how it turns out. Next time Ill stick with a recipe that others have had luck with. So the wife will have to wait a little longer. Thanks again
 
Here is the extract version of an all grain recipe I have used several times with different fruit but not strawberries. It allows the fruit to come thru nicely but so does the beer.

For 5.5 gallon batch

6.6 lbs Liquid wheat extract
2 lbs dry wheat extract
1 oz of crystal hops at 60 minutes
1 oz of crystal hops at 20 minutes
Wyeast 1056 American Ale

White labs WLP001 or S05 dry yeast will work just as good. I ferment this recipe at 60 degrees so it will ferment clean.
 
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